B Lab Singapore’s head of business development and partnerships has quit after four months in the role, the latest in a series of key staff departures, despite a management restructure earlier this year.
To continue reading, subscribe to Eco‑Business.
There's something for everyone. We offer a range of subscription plans.
- Access our stories and receive our Insights Weekly newsletter with the free EB Member plan.
- Unlock unlimited access to our content and archive with EB Circle.
- Publish your content with EB Premium.
Leslie Leow, who previously worked for Kaplan Financial in Singapore and accounting body CPA Australia, only joined B Lab, the non-profit behind the B Corp sustainability certification scheme, to lead business development and partnerships in May this year. Eco-Business understands that Leow has tendered his resignation and will leave B Lab Singapore at the end of the month.
Leow replaces Keith Tan, an entrepreneur who spent five months in a similar role before moving on. Tan was tasked to head up business development and operations, an appointment made after the non-profit saw its chief executive Amelie Remond leave after nine months. It had then embarked on a management restructure.
In response to Eco-Business’s email queries on the personnel changes, B Lab Singapore’s co-founder and director Caroline Seow said that it has no immediate plans to recruit a new head of business development as it evaluates “the best team structure” for the organisation.
B Lab Singapore did not comment on reasons for the high employee turnover. In emails seen by Eco-Business, former staff have complained about a lack of ambition, clear leadership and business focus that has limited the organisation’s potential.
Eco-Business understands that Prisca Lim, chief operating officer of B Lab Singapore, has returned to the organisation on a part-time basis. She joins Cecilia Hough, who was appointed impact management lead in November last year.
B Lab’s business development function was focused on growing the ecosystem of B Corps, or “beneficial businesses”, in Singapore. B Corp is arguably the most rigorous assessment of social and environmental performance in the certification industry.
There are currently 53 B Corps in Singapore, more than twice the number as in 2021, when B Lab was formally established as a non-profit with a mission to advance stakeholder capitalism in the city-state. B Lab Singapore has stated that it is aiming to certify 100 businesses in Singapore by 2025.
Uptake of the certification has been comparatively brisk in Southeast Asian markets outside of Singapore. There are currently 64 B Corps in Southeast Asia, excluding Singapore, up from just three in 2021.
Certified B Corps in Singapore include Vero, the first Asian public relations firm to commit to not work for fossil fuels clients, healthy food retailer SaladStop! and sustainability media company Eco-Business.
Though B Lab Singapore generates income from certification fees – businesses must pay to attain certification and stay certified – the entity is not profitable, according to sources. It is supported by donors, principly the Tsao family. B Lab Singapore’s board of directors includes Dr Mary Ann Tsao, chair of the Tsao Foundation.
B Corp-certified firms face scrutiny
Globally, there are now more than 8,500 certfied B Corps. Last month, B Lab made headlines for stripping Havas, one of the world’s largest global communications groups, of its B Corp status, because of the advertising agency’s contract with oil major Shell.
B Lab’s decision followed a complaint made by 22 B Corp-certified communications firms for Havas to lose its B Corp status on the grounds that working for major polluters clashed with B Lab’s values.
In her email response, Seow told Eco-Business that B Lab is working on new standards for human rights and environmental impact in the wake of the Havas-Shell controversy. Meanwhile, complaints about B Corps that work with clients in controversial industries would be “managed on a case-by-case analysis”, she said.
Clean Creatives, a non-profit that campaigns for advertising firms to stop working for Big Oil, recently submitted a separate complaint to B Lab about five B Corp-certified agencies in the United States that it said had ties to fossil fuels brands.
No official complaints have been made about B Corps in Asia, but one of the first B Corps in Singapore, Vision Strategy Storytelling (VS Story), is set to lose its B Corp status in September following its acquisition by public relations firm Red Hill. B Corp rules stipulate that in order to get re-certified, all group companies must be assessed.
Leow said B Lab is in discussions with VS Story and Redhill over their plans to attain B Corp certification.
